Conventional digital video cameras for imaging and recording a still picture, a moving picture, and audio on a recording medium and reproducing the recorded still picture, moving picture, and audio include such a type that has a synchronous imaging function for a still picture and a moving picture, namely, a function of imaging a still picture synchronously while imaging a moving picture.
Through the use of this function, the following apparatus has been proposed. When reproducing a recording medium on which still picture recording time information showing a still picture recording time and moving picture recording time information showing a moving picture recording time are recorded, the apparatus specifies a moving picture that includes a still picture imaging time of a selected still picture, and reproduces only a portion of the specified moving picture near the still picture imaging time. Such an apparatus makes it possible to quickly find a scene which a user wants to view in the moving picture, from the still picture (for example, see PTL 1).
Moreover, the following apparatus has been proposed. This apparatus is a picture recording and reproduction apparatus that, when recording a still picture and a moving picture on the same recording medium, records still picture data and moving picture data with audio in different folders according to their different compression formats. Upon recording the still picture data, the apparatus generates a link information file for associating the still picture data with the moving picture data, in the folder in which the moving picture data is generated.
FIG. 24 shows an example of a file structure generated on the recording medium by this apparatus.
A folder named “DCIM (Digital Camera IMages)” and a folder named “VIDEO” are generated in a root folder of the recording medium. Here, “DCIM” is a parent folder for storing a still picture file in accordance with DCF (Design rule for Camera File system).
A subfolder with a name “(a 3-digit number)+(an arbitrary character string)” is created under the DCIM folder, and a still picture file is generated in this subfolder. The still picture file has a name “(an arbitrary character string)+(a 4-digit number)+.JPG”. For example, a still picture file 500 named “ABCD0001.JPG” is generated.
On the other hand, “VIDEO” is a parent folder for storing a moving picture file. A subfolder with a name “(a 3-digit number)+(an arbitrary character string)” is created under the VIDEO folder, and a moving picture file is generated in this subfolder. The moving picture file has a name “(an arbitrary character string)+(a 3-digit number)+.MPG”. For example, a moving picture file 502 named “EFG002.MPG” is generated.
When imaging the still picture, a link information file 501 is generated in the folder for storing the moving picture file 502. For example, the link information file 501 named “EFG001.lnk” is generated. “EFG001.lnk” stores linkage information designating the still picture file 500. Thus, the still picture data and the moving picture data can be easily associated with each other, with it being possible to achieve functions such as file browsing in chronological order (for example, see PTL 2).